Re: Child support and welfare in PA

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Every parent is legally obligated to support his/her
child/children even if the parent is on welfare. However,
it is for the court to determine how much the child support
payment will be. A person receiving $800 a month on welfare
obviously can't pay $799 in child support and, thus, the
reason the court will modify the support to a very minimal
amount while the parent is on welfare.

On a side note: Courts do not want to send deadbeat parents
to jail for non-payment because, obviously, a parent sitting
in jail can not work and pay child support.

On 5/17/09, Mrs.P wrote:
> Defendant has been ordered to pay child support, found in
> contempt quite a few times for failure to pay and even
> spent 6 months in jail for it. Now they are filing for a
> modification because they are on welfare. My question is,
> do they still require someone on welfare (cash assistance)
> to pay their child support obligation? Thanks!